Diane McClary

Diane McClary

Painting and teaching are my two passions. I believe that they are equally important and that one feeds into the other. For the past 30 years I have been painting and involved in the study of fine art. The greatest influence on my painting style and process came from Sergei Bongart, the internationally known Russian Impressionist artist, and his colleagues, Ron Lukas, Sonny Apinchapong, and Delbert Gish. In the past, I was involved in attending and sponsoring workshops for the artists who worked with Sergei. For many years, I have exhibited, demonstrated, and taught painting and drawing workshops in Washington, Colorado, California, Florida, France, and Africa. I also organized a tour for artists to visit mainland China and study at the Zhejiang Provincial Fine Art Academy in Hangzhou.

As an Impressionist artist involved in capturing the true color of light in various situations, the majority of my work begins with a small painting executed onsite, or painting other forms of real-life subject matter, such as florals or still life compositions. In my plein air painting, I search for scenes outdoors where the color of light and shadow catch my attention. I will paint quickly to catch the impression on the canvas, and later in the studio, the small sketches will be enlarged to larger paintings. In the larger painting, my desire is to include the excitement and feeling that I experienced in the smaller study. Along with painting landscapes, I enjoy painting still lifes outdoors because of the beautiful color expressed on the subject matter that happens with the natural light.

The paintings that are shown here are a combination of scenes from the Northwest, travel, and more recently the Southwest, including many desert scenes. I prefer to paint with oil paints because of the strength of the color and the flexibility to make changes during the painting process. Each painting follows a practice taught with the Bongart School which involves three steps: first, painting large abstract shapes, which emphasize related strong color and value; second, modeling form for more definition; and third, finishing off with small accent strokes. Achieving beautiful color harmony by relating the various simplified color shapes is the desired final result.

Please visit my website at www.dianemcclary.com for further information about me.